Remainder of staff to be set by March

Danville Independent School District has named the principals for Mary G. Hogsett Primary School and Edna L. Toliver Intermediate School, which will officially open in August.

Robin Kelly, current principal at Jennie Rogers Elementary School, will be the new principal at Edna L. Toliver Intermediate School. Leo Labrillazo, current principal at Mary G. Hogsett Elementary School, will be the new principal at Mary G. Hogsett Primary School.

Ron Ballard, current principal at Edna L. Toliver Elementary School, will become the director of support services in the district.

Ballard said he’s looking forward to the new position.

“I’m not nervous. I’m always excited about a new opportunity,” he said. “If you’ve been an elementary teacher, an elementary principal — you’ll miss the kids. That’s my thought, ‘I’ll miss the kids.’”

Ballard came to the Danville district in 2002, becoming interim principal at Edna L. Toliver Elementary during the 2014-15 year, when then-Principal Judy Spellacy moved to a position at the district level. He officially became principal at the start of the 2015-16 year.

Ballard said in his new position, he will take on some of the roles that have been spread out to others over the years, such as directing transportation, leading the district’s family resource centers, leading trainings for school councils and acting as the elementary curriculum, instruction and assessment liaison.

“I would assume, this summer, the position would continue to evolve based on what skill sets they think I bring to the table,” he said. “I look forward to the opportunity to maybe recreate some of those roles traditionally, how they’ve been used, and really make it more of an extension of the school.”

Ballard said having seen Toliver through a two-year construction and renovation project gives him a bit of insight into that side of things. Leading all major construction projects will also fall under his hat.

“I guess they felt that, since I’ve lived it the last two years, I might have some (insight) into that side of things,” Ballard said.

Ballard said he believes his military background played into him being placed in the role.

“In the military, you have formal training to move to the next level as an officer, in management,” he said. “That’s one of the things I look forward to doing over there is helping refine systems that we may or may not have in place.”

Next school year, Edna L. Toliver Intermediate School will serve all students in the district in second through fifth grades, and Mary G. Hogsett Primary School will serve all students in preschool through first grade. The two are considered new schools as far as the state Department of Education is concerned, because the structures of the schools are changing.

“I’m pretty sure this is going to be the only time in my career that I get to open a brand new school,” said Robin Kelly, who will be principal at Edna L. Toliver Intermediate School. “I think it’s hard for people to think about those as brand new schools, because they are in locations where schools have operated previously. At the same time, everything has changed. I assure you there are not 550-600 kids at Toliver right now.

“That’s exciting to think that we can do some things differently.”

Kelly, who is currently serving her fourth year as the principal at Jennie Rogers Elementary School, said she’s very excited.

“When all of this reconfiguration stuff was coming, we were working on it, I had fingers crossed I would land in a principal position,” she said. “I wanted to continue in a principal role. I love what I do.”

Jennie Rogers will ultimately become home to the district’s central office, which is currently located on the campus of the Kentucky School for the Deaf, and the district’s alternative school.

Kelly started her career in education at Jennie Rogers, leaving for a few years to teach in Bardstown, before returning as the assistant principal at Bate Middle School in 2011. She became the principal at Jennie Rogers in 2015.

She said she wants parents to trust the plans being put in place.

“I hope that parents can trust us to know that we have been working on this a lot, trying to get all of this figured out. We are establishing great teams at two locations — it’s not that all the good ones are coming to Toliver with me,” she said. “Leo and I had some arm wrestling matches over staff.”

Kelly said it’s important to note that they weren’t just mixing the barrel, either.

“We want to tap into people’s strengths as well,” she said.

There’s opportunity for change, Kelly said. “Instead of being afraid, I hope that parents will embrace it and say, ‘This is a great thing.’”

Labrillazo said he’s up for the challenge of transitioning Mary G. Hogsett Elementary School into Mary G. Hogsett Primary School and is excited about what it means for students.

“I just feel like the experiences we’re going to be able to offer Danville students is going to be really good,” he said.

Labrillazo is in his fourth year at the school. Knowing they will be serving the youngest population of Danville students is exciting, he said.

“We’re really going to work to make sure it is a showpiece for the community,” he said. But beyond that, “we want to take the learning experience at that early level, we want to take it and make it more than what anybody thought it could be.”

Labrillazo said there will be faces from all three of the current elementary schools at Hogsett when it officially opens in August — “a good mix,” so students will feel more comfortable.

The district has also announced the plan for assistant principals:

Suzanne Farmer, a Danville educator who has been on leave from the district, will be the assistant principal at Hogsett Primary. Danny Goodwin, a science teacher at Danville High School, will be the assistant principal at Toliver Intermediate.

Farmer, who is an early childhood specialist, said she is really excited about her new role at Hogsett Primary.

“It feels like the right fit and the right next step for me,” she said. “It’s really nice to return to the district, at the school level and be connected at that age, focused on that age. That’s what I’ve missed the most since I’ve been away from Danville.”

She started her career at an early childhood center in Anderson County, before moving to Danville Schools for about three and a half years.

Farmer has been on leave from the district for four years, working on a U.S. Department of Education grant, funded through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and several other partner agencies.

“I work with several districts across the state and other districts in the country, in other states, too, to support schools and districts with their professional learning and to support National Board work at a state level,” she said. “It’s been really exciting to see best practices across the country and across Kentucky.”

But that role has kept her a step removed from students, which has left her missing students.

“It’ll be nice to be back in a school. It’s be nice to be back home — I live here; it’s where my kids go,” Farmer said. “I feel like the last several years, I’ve gotten to make a difference in schools, but not in my community.”

Another familiar Danville face, Danny Goodwin, a nine-year teacher at Danville High School, will be the assistant principal at Toliver Intermediate.

“It will be a change, but I’m excited about it. It will be fun to start a new school,” he said.

Transitioning ages will be a little bit different, he said, but he’s excited about it. He said good learning is still good learning.

“I really like teaching, I like what I do. I have a pretty fun job,” he said. “It’s hard for me to leave the classes that I teach and the robotics club, which I spend a lot of time with.”

“I told (students), ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be here the rest of the year, whether you like it or not,’” he said, and laughed. “You feel nervous about leaving something where you’ve invested a lot of time and effort.”

Also named:

• Jennifer Goggin, guidance counselor at Toliver Elementary, will remain at Toliver Intermediate;

• Nicky King, guidance counselor at Hogsett Elementary, will be at Toliver Intermediate; and

• Sarah Rankin, guidance counselor at Jennie Rogers Elementary, will be at Hogsett Primary.

Superintendent Keith Look has said they plan to preserve the existing staff in the district. He said the plan is to speak with staff in February and begin placing them.

“The goal is to let as many people know as possible by the first week of March,” Look said in a Jan. 24 article in The Advocate-Messenger.

Staffing season for schools normally falls in March.

The site-based decision making councils, who normally set staff, will be voted in this fall in the respective schools and will resume the role of determining staff for the 2019-2020 school year.